ON THE BEARS

Booing won't bother Rex Grossman

August 07, 2008|By David Haugh

Go ahead and boo Rex Grossman all you want Thursday night at Soldier Field, Bears fans. Get it out of your system. Get your money's worth.

You paid top dollar for those tickets to the season's first exhibition against the Kansas City Chiefs, so that buys you at least three hours of booing to your heart's content, right? Nobody disputes that or denies a game ticket is a contract permitting fans' free expression.

But when it comes to the anticipated fan treatment of Grossman that has received much attention in town this week, one matter needs to be cleared up before Chicago clears its throat again: the matter of it mattering.

It doesn't.

What makes you feel better doesn't necessarily make Grossman feel worse. So boo Grossman loud enough to echo in Evanston if it's cathartic. He will hear you, but he won't be listening.

Relationships are all about expectations, and Grossman no longer expects a thing from Bears fans. Correction: He expects exactly what he will hear Thursday night. And the feelings many of you have for Grossman probably are mutual. He considers the source, valuing your football opinions as much as you value his football talent. Surely it's nothing personal.

Grossman never would say so himself -- he's no Cade McNown -- but he doesn't have to. He knows people are fed up with his past inconsistency.

I've been around Grossman since his first day as a Bear in 2003 and it's easy to see how uneasy his life as a Bear in Chicago seems nowadays when his world extends beyond Halas Hall.

He has been more detached to observers since deciding to return for a sixth season.

He hasn't been rude or impolite, but he hasn't been as accessible or affable either. He's more aloof than indifferent, and it's hard to blame him.

This is a guy booed in last year's exhibitions only months after coming off a Super Bowl appearance, a guy who became a national punch line after getting benched, a guy mocked by a marching band for holding a clipboard.

Yet when Grossman agreed to return for another season, it was with the knowledge and expectation he would receive the reaction he is likely to get Thursday night after his first incompletion or three-and-out.

But he will be too locked in to what he sees in the Chiefs' 4-3 defensive front to worry about what he hears in Section 435.

Don't let that stop you.

While the booing issue threatens to receive more focus than necessary after the game, it doesn't even rank among the top 10 things worth paying attention to one month before the regular-season opener.

1. Drops: It doesn't matter that the Bears are auditioning new receivers. If the ball hits a receiver's hands, he should catch it. The Bears' 40 drops were the third-highest total in the NFL last season.

2. Quarterbacks: The first two weeks of practice produced even results, with Thursday starter Kyle Orton perhaps slightly ahead. But it will be the game evaluation that matters -- so let the real charting begin.

3. Bobbled snaps: Last year's fumbled snaps against the Colts in an exhibition still are held against Grossman. Let go of the past -- but not the football.

4. Matt Forte: The most exciting player in training camp so far, Forte finally gets to show he can make NFL tacklers miss.

5. False starts and other dumb penalties: Only four teams in the NFL had more penalties than the Bears' 111 last season, unforgivable given how experienced the team was. The Bears cannot tolerate such carelessness again.

6. Brian Urlacher: Curiosity alone makes it worth watching a guy with an arthritic back coming off minor neck surgery try to tackle runners live for the first time this year. If training camp is any indication, the only indication Urlacher had surgery is the small scar that remains.

7. Tackling: By their own admission, the Bears tackled atrociously last season. They haven't taken ballcarriers to the ground during training camp either. But tackling is half technique and half attitude so the Bears should get to the ball in a bad mood.

8. Mike Brown: Remember when most of us predicted Brown never would wear a Bears uniform again? Enjoy seeing No. 30 back in action, and enjoy it more Sept. 7, Oct. 7 and so on ... because only after 16 games will doubt be removed that he is healthy enough to last a season.

9. Substitution sharpness: After a 7-9 season that was the most disappointing in the NFL last year, the Bears somehow need to show they got the message. Getting players and special teams on and off the field in a timely, efficient manner is just one way to illustrate the Bears are being well-coached.

10. Devin Hester: The Bears will walk a fine line between protecting their best scoring option from injury and playing him enough at receiver to learn his new trade.